Drs. Oz and Roizen: Oatmeal —it’s what’s for breakfast

When Cleopatra slipped into her oatmeal-and-buttermilk-filled bathtub, she was making sure her skin was healthy and smooth-looking all day long. What she didn’t know what that those magic grains could do the same for her insides. Seems that nutty-tasting oat groats (that’s what the seed inside an oat husk is called) pack a powerhouse of anti-aging nutrients. One cup provides two of the six servings of the whole grains you should eat daily, almost a third of your fiber and around 20 percent of your iron and 4 percent of your calcium. This helps maintain a healthy, youthful cardiovascular and digestive system.

And there’s more good news about oatmeal: A new study from Louisiana State University School of Nutrition and Food Sciences shows that oatmeal satisfies your hunger better than ready-to-eat cereals, even those made from oats. That means if you have oatmeal for breakfast, you’ll eat less at lunch — making this the perfect weight-control morning meal.

But you’ve gotta go for the good grain, not the instant oatmeal packs that come loaded with 12 times as much sugar and 33 percent less fiber than old-fashioned rolled oats. We’re taking about rolled oats (steamed and flattened whole oat groats) and steel-cut oats, which are broken groats from the de-husking process. Sometimes they’re eaten raw (that’s muesli) or cooked into the familiar hot porridge. We suggest livening things up by mixing in 12 walnut halves, nonfat Greek yogurt or nonfat almond milk and fresh berries. Now you’ll sail through the day or down the Nile.